Apparatus for granulating heavy semifluid materials.



1. c. MACLACHLAN'. APPARATUS FOR GRANULMING HEAVY SEMI-FLUID MATERIALS.

APPLICATION FILED JUNE 4. 19H.

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1. C. MACLACHLAN.

APPARATUS ron GRANULAHNG HEAVY SEMI-FL'UID MATERIALS.

APPLICATWN FILED JUNE 4| I91 1,301,288,, Patented Apr. 22,1919.

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Specification of Letters Patent.

application filed June 4, 1917. Serial No. 172,59.

2 and I do hereby declare the following to be a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, such as will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention has for its object to provide. an improved apparatus forobtaining in granular form, the solid constituents "of heavysemi-liquid, viscous, or pasty substances. Particularly, the apparatusis de signedfor obtaining in granular form, the solid constituents ofmilk, buttermilk, and various other liquids and of crushed or pulpedfruit, vegetables, meats, etc. In obtaining this granular constituentfrom liquids, such as milk and buttermilk, they are first condensed orreduced to the above noted pasty semi-liquid "or semi-solid condition.Fruit, vegetables, and the like, before they are subjected to theapparatus, mustbe reduced to the above noted semi-liquid orsemi-solidcondition by crushing, beating or grinding, or other treatmentfor producing the above noted condition.

The apparatus herein disclosed and claimed is especially ada ted forcarrying out the improvedfmetho of obtaining dry granular products fromsemi-fluid materials disclosed and claimed in my pending application S.N. 115,9'97, filed August 21,

' The pasty semifluid condensed material is subjected to the combinedbeating and centrifugal throwing action of a rotary socalled centrifugalbeater, under the action of which the heavy pasty substance is beaten,cracked, or broken up and thrown in a shower into a chamber throughwhich a hot blast of air is forced, and, by the action of which hot air,the finely broken-up particles are rapidly dried and precipitated ingranular form, into the bottom of said chamber.

One of the chief features of the present invention is directed to animproved form of Lao-called centrifugal beater, under the action ofwhich, the hot air is brought into more thorough action on the pastysubstance at the very time that it is'being thrown and beaten by thecentrifugal beater.

In the accompanying drawings which illustrate the complete apparatus,like characters indicate like parts throughout the several views.Referring to the drawings,

Flgure l is a vertical section showingthe complete apparatus;

Fig. 2 is a vertical section showing on a larger scale than in Fig. 1,the centrifugal beater and immediately associated devices;

Fig. 3 is a bottom plan view of the centrifugal beater;

Fig. 4. is a transverse section on the line 4-4 of Fig. 1; and Fig. 5 isan enlarged view on the same line as Fig. 4, but showing chiefly thefeed devices for carrying the precipitated granu lar material from thehopper of the precipitating chamber.

In the further description of this apparatus, it will be assumed to beused in the treatment of milk. lhe milk 3 in this c0mplete apparatus, isplaced in a supply tank 4 shown as supported on one of the upper floors5 in the building. This tank 4 is connected by a valve-equipped pipe 6to a spraying head located in the upper portion of a condensing tank orchamber 7, which latter, in the arrangement illustrated, extends fromthe floor 5 down through a lower floor 8 of the building in which theapparatus is installed. The said spraying head,

just referred to, is preferably of a character hereinafter more fullydescribed. The hopper-like bottom of the condensing chamber is connectedto the lower end of a pipe 9 that extends to an elevated feed hopper 11shown as supported on the upper floor 5.

The upper portion of this pipe 9 is also connected by a return pipe 12to the milk supply tank y. Said pipe 12 has a valve 13, and pipe 9,above said pipe 12, has a valve 14. The hot blast of air is blown intothe lower portion of the condensing chamber 7, through a hot air pipe 15and blower 16. This hot air is drawn ofl from the upper portion of saidcondensing chamber 7,

through a hot air pipe 17.

The numeral 18 indicates a pump shown vas interposed in the lowerportion of the pipe 9 for producing the positive flow upward throughsaid pipe.

' The precipitation of the granular material takes place in a so-calledprecipitation cham- Patented a t. a, rare.

ber 19, preferably formed Within the inner shell 20 of a double-walledcasing made up of said shell 20 and an outer shell 21, which latter isextended from the floor 5 down through fioor 8 to a lower floor level.The

lower portion of the precipitating chamber 19 is shown as formed withtwo hopper-like bottom sections 22, each opening into a feed tube 23 inwhich works a feed screw 24. The feed screw 24, as shown, is arranged tobe driven from a small electric motor 25, through a suitable belt andpulley drive 26. One end of each feed tube 23 connects to a dischargetube 27 that extends to a suitable point of discharge outside of thecasing 21. The walls of the inner casing 20 are extended upward to thetop of the outer casing 21 by a fine screen 28 of wire or coarse fabric,and the walls of, said inner casing 20 are extended downward to thebottom of said outer easing 2]. by similar reticulate material 29.

Hot air is blown into the precipitation chamber 19, as shown, at twodifferent points, through branch pipes 30 that lead from a hot airsupply pipe 31. The numeral 32 indicates a hot air draw-ofi' pipe thatleads from the chamber 19 which is below the hopperlike bottoms 22, andextends to a suction fan 33.

Located in the upper portion of the precipitating chamber 19,. one aboveeach hopper bottom 22, is a centrifugal beater of novel construction andarrangement, the preferred form of which is as follows:

' The numeral 34 indicates an upright tubu-.

' .and ball bearings 38 are preferably interposed between'the said tube37 and the upper and lower ends of said spindle.

' The upper ends of the tubes 37 are connected to a sup 1y pipe 39 thatleads from a feed tube 40, which, in turn, is connected to the bottom ofthe hopper 11. Working in the feed tube 40 is a feed screw 41 which, asshown, is driven from a small electric motor 42 through a suitablebelted pulley drive 43.

Secured to the lower end of each rotary spindle 34 is a disk-like head44 preferably havin an oblique depending marginal flange 45 an'c athreaded annular flange 46. Big

idly secured to the flange 45 is a plurality of beater blades 47. Thesebeater blades not only diverge downwardly from the axis of rotation, butextend circumferentially on lines that are eccentric to said axis.Moreover, the edges of the said beater blades circumferentially overlap,and in respect to the direction of rotation of the beater head (seearrow Fig. 3), the front edges of the said blades are radially furtheroutward than the it is important to notethat the discharge perforationsin the nozzle plate 49 are eccentrically located in respect to the axisof rotation so that the heavy material or condensed substance will,under high rotation and centrifugal force, be thrown violently outwardand against the beater blades 47.

The numeral 51 indicates a cold or fresh air intake tube which leadsthrough the top plate of the casing 21 and terminates at its lower endclose to the rim portion of the rotary centrifugal beater. The outer endof this fresh air tube 51 is preferably covered by a fine screen 52.

The material to be treated,which we have assumed-to be milk, will flow bgravity through the pipe 6, and will be discharged in a shower from thespraying head that is at the delivery end of pipeG and located in theupper portion of the condensin chamber 7. This spraying head may e, andpreferably is, of the same character as those located in theprecipitating chamber and above fully described, and hence, the partsthereof are indicated by the same numerals. All of these rotary headsare driven at a very high speed and this is preferably ac complished bysmall electric motors 53 that drive belts 54 that run over groovedsheaves 55 on the rotary spindles 34.

The shower of milk from the spraying head within the condensing chamber7 will 'fall through the upwardly moving hot blast of air and much ofthe moisture will be carried olf'by this hot air so that the liquidwhich is precipitated at the bottom of the chamber 7 will be muchcondensed even by one precipitation through this hot air. It should,however, be passed through the hot air several times and until it isreduced to what, as above stated, may be treated as a heavy pastycondition or to a condition much like that of wet dough. This conditionmay also be treated as a semi-fluid condition, that is, it will not flowby gravity through tubes or pipes of ordinary size, but W111,nevertheless settle and seek an approximate level at the bottom of thecondensing chamber. From the hopper-like bottom of condensing chamber 7,the pasty or semi-fluid milk will by pump 18 be forced upward throughpipe 9. If valve 14 be then closed,

and valve 13 opened, this condensed milkneonate condition. Valve 13being then closed and valve 14 opened, this-heavy pasty material will bedelivered into hopper 11 and from thence by feed screw 24 forced throughpipe and tubes 37 intochamber 50 of the cen trrfugal heaters located inthe a pease tion of the precipitating chamber 19. Th" centmfugalheaters, IS important to note,

are mounted to rotate on vertical axes. U11? der' pressure produced fromthe feed screw at which the beatersare rotated, and because of thedistance of the said blades from the axis of rotation, have ver highperipheral velocity and will strike t e pasty or semisolid substancewith great force and, moreover, each particle of the past material willbe repeatedly subjected tolmpacts or blade strokes which will crack upand break the particles, while at the same time, subject the same toquite violent blasts of'hot air. The sort of fan formation of the beaterblades causes the hot air to move under great velocity around andbetween the beater blades and the combined beating at high velocity andrapid drying action of the forced blast of hot air serves to reduce thepasty substance almost instantly to a finely divided granular form. Thisgranular formation is not microscopic, but may be observed with thenaked eye and may be felt between the fingers. It is much preferable toan impalpable powder formation such as has been hitherto produced byspraying milk or other material, either in its natural, or slightlycondensed condition through a hot blast of air. The powder or dust formof the precipitated material will not readily dissolve in water, butlike fine wheat flour, for example, requires great care in mixing andstirring toprevent it from forming dry cakes that will not absorb thewater by capillary attraction. On the contrary, the granular formationwill quickly dissolve inwater and because of its capillary attractionwill, even when applied In the water in quantities, quickly absorb waterand be dissolved thereby. a

In Fig. 1, the depending grooved lines indicate the way in which theshower of granulated or fine particles fall in sort of umbrellaformations, from the centrlfu a1 heaters through the upwardly movlng otcurrents of air into the bottoms of the precipitating chamber.

Under rotation of the centrifugal boaters, some fresh air will be drawncontinuously into the top of the precipitatin chamber throu h the freshair tubes 51. hls fresh air'wfil be much cooler'than the air wlthm theprecipitating chamber and will be delivered directly against the bladesof the rotary beaters, thereby tending to cool the same and, moreover,supplying fresh 1 air rich in cles. I

I claim is:

discharge head arranged to throw the material ejected therefrom,'outwardunder the action of centrifugal force, a "heater rotatable about-saiddischarge head, i i-position to strike and beat thematerial-ejectedj'irom and thrown outward by said discharge-head,

and means for rotating'said head andheater' at high speed.

2. An apparatus for granulating pasty semi-fluid materials, comprising arotary discharge head having a discharge orifice located eccentric toits axis of rotation, whereby material ejected therefrom will be thrownoutward by centrifugal force, beater blades, rotatable about saiddischarge head, in position to strike and beat the material ejected fromand thrown outward by said oxygen vto the broken or granulated par- 1.An -apparatus for granulating pasty semi-fluid materials, comprising arotary tit discharge head, and means for rotating said I head and beaterblades at high speed.

3. An apparatus for granulating pasty semi-fiuidmaterials, comprisin aprecipitating chamber, means for pro ucing forced circulation of airthrough said chamber, a rotary discharge head positioned to dischargewithin said chamber and provided with a discharge orifice eccentricallylocated in respect to its axis of rotation, and heater blades secured tosaid discharge head but spaced outward therefrom in position to beat thepulverized material discharged from and thrown outward by said heaterhead, means for suppl ing the asty material to said discharge ead, and

means for rotating said head and heater blades at high speed.

4. An apparatus for granulating pasty semi-fluid materials, comprisng arotary discharge head having a discharge orifice located eccentric to1ts axis of rotation, whereby material ejected therefrom will be thrownoutward by centrifugal force, mater blades rotatable about saiddischarge head, in position to strike and beat the material ejected fromand thrown outward by sa d discharge head, and means for rotatin saidhead and beater blades at hlgh sp the said beater blades being inoverlapped arrangement, ex'tendin on lines-that are eccentric to theaxis 0 rotation of said head the radially outermost extremities of SS/1dblades being forward in res t to the direction of rotation of said hea5. An apparatus for granulating pasty V semi-fluid materials, comprisinga preclpitatin chamber, means for producmg forced circu ation of airthrough said chamber, a

rat

rotary discharge head positioned to discharge within said chamber andprovided with a discharge orifice eccentrically located in respect toits axislof rotation, and beater blades secured to said discharge headbut spaced outward therefrom, in position to Mat the pulverized materialdischarged from and thrown outward by said beater head, means forsupplying the pasty material to said discharge head, and means forrotatinghsaid head and beater blades at high speed, t e said casinghaving a fresh cold air intake port independent of said air circulatingmeans, arranged to direct cold air directly onto the said beater bladesto cool the same.

6. An apparatus for granulating pasty semi-fluid materials, comprising arotary discharge head havmg a discharge orifice located eccentric to itsaxis of rotation, whereby material ejected therefrom will be thrownoutward b centrifugal force, beater blades rotatable a out saiddischarge head,

action which draws fresh air inward t neonaaa in position to strike andbeat the material ejected from and thrown outward by said dischargehead, and means for rotatin said head and heater blades at high spee thesaid beater blades being in overlapped arrangement, extending on linesthat are eccentric to the axis of rotation of said head, the radiallyoutermost extremities of said blades being forward in respect to thedirection of rotation of said head, and a casing having a fresh cold airintake port independent of said air circulating means, arranged todirect cold air directly onto the said heater blades, to cool the same,the said beater blades, under rotation, havin a fan dirough said freshair intake port.

In testimony wherof I afiix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

JOHN C. MACLACHLAN. Witnesses:

MAY A. SMITH, F. D. MERCHANT.

